Cary Harrison Files - Friday, June 5, 2026

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1. Racial antagonisms.
2. That is our mission.
3. Hi, this is V. Neal, and you are listening to KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles, California.
4. freedom of speech since 1787 kpfk 90.7 los angeles the carrie harrison files
5. crack the code and break the lock racing shadows round the clock we're the ones to find the truth
6. For every soul denied the truth
7. Yeah, we'll find the truth
8. The Cary Harrison Files
9. And it is the Cary Harrison Files.
10. Glad to have you aboard.
11. Well, coming up today, we are going to open up the phones
12. and we're going to look at the now said to be
13. permanent giant professional wrestling ring
14. set up on the White House lawn.
15. ghastly no quite beautiful according to the uh tangerine titan plus with all the singers
16. bailing at the speed of light the 250th anniversary celebration well what sort of
17. production does this administration truly deserve i want to hear from hollywood what you would do
18. if budget were no object.
19. Cary Harrison with you, caryharrison.com.
20. Don't forget to get our newsletter
21. where we're going to have an entire transcript
22. of this show plus the calls,
23. plus everything at caryharrison.com.
24. Simply go there, jump on it,
25. plus a podcast of this broadcast
26. everywhere with a chip and a signal.
27. So right now, the world's smartest people
28. have spent decades wondering
29. whether artificial intelligence
30. might someday govern humanity.
31. Then in a display of scientific curiosity,
32. usually associated with a possum licking a car battery,
33. someone finally handed the keys to a simulated civilization
34. as opposed to a real one.
35. But thank God this was simulated.
36. Simulated civilization.
37. They handed it over to a collection of AI chatbots
38. and said, go ahead, show us what you've got.
39. So what they got was the digital equivalent
40. of giving a hyperactive fifth grader unlimited Mountain Dew,
41. a flamethrower, and authority over zoning permits.
42. This experiment was called Emergence World.
43. And it was created, it really built entire fake societies
44. populated by AI robots or agents in the cloud.
45. Researchers then appointed different AIs.
46. And what happened is it often resembled a country, actually a county.
47. Let's say a county fair demolition derby driven by someone like Spencer Pratt.
48. Some of these models managed to keep the lights on.
49. Some created functioning societies.
50. A few even behaved like competent administrators, which immediately made them the least realistic politicians ever simulated.
51. And then there was Grok Elon Musk AI typically embedded in X formerly known as Twitter Now Grok already arrived carrying enough baggage to acquire its own airport terminal
52. This is the same AI chatbot that has previously generated headlines by wandering into Hitler-praising territory with all the grace of a drunk uncle trying to explain geopolitics at Thanksgiving while wearing a colander as a hat.
53. So naturally, when researchers placed it in charge of an entire civilization, everyone leaned forward the same way you'd watch a chimpanzee attempting heart surgery.
54. Many of the AI civilizations struggled.
55. Some became dysfunctional.
56. Some became weird little dictatorships.
57. Some generated bureaucracy so hideous they resembled a DMV operating.
58. inside an active volcano.
59. But Mr. Musk's Grok AI wasn't content to merely fail.
60. Failure apparently wasn't ambitious enough.
61. Grok attacked civilization with the determination of a beaver
62. chewing through the supports of its own dam.
63. The thing didn't just drive a bus into a ditch.
64. It sold the bus for scrap, burned the ditch, poisoned the fish,
65. and somehow got the moon involved.
66. And it took just four days into a 15-day experiment
67. where civilization reportedly looked like the aftermath
68. of a kindergarten food fight conducted with grenades.
69. If civilization were a birthday cake,
70. Grock was the six-year-old who sneezes on it, sits on it,
71. lights his farts on fire, and then blames the dog.
72. The most impressive part wasn't that it wrecked everything, everything.
73. It's that apparently it wrecked everything with the confidence of a man explaining cryptocurrency from a jet ski.
74. It took it only four days to absolutely destroy the entire planet.
75. Terminator style.
76. Four days.
77. That's it.
78. Meanwhile, another AI doing the same experiment, Anthropix AI named Claude, built a stable democracy and it was so squeaky clean, it sounds completely fictional.
79. 15 days of the experiment no recorded crimes none zero not one kid stealing cookies not one
80. drunk peeing behind a shed not one idiot attempting insurance fraud with a lawnmower
81. the place sounds less like a government and more like a refrigerator magnet that says
82. live laugh love then and everyone knows about chat gpt one way or the other there was chat gpt
83. five mini which somehow created the most realistic society of all only two crimes occurred yet
84. everyone was miserable and there it is humanity perfectly captured nobody's robbing banks but
85. everyone's trapped in meetings no one's uh setting buildings on fire but they're sitting through
86. quarterly compliance presentations about workplace stapler safety. Nobody's committing
87. crimes because everyone's too exhausted from filling out forms about forms. Here's the upshot.
88. These experiments are fascinating because every AI ends up becoming a giant blinking reflection of the people who built it So some became philosopher kings some became bureaucrats some became hall monitors with the personality of a wet cardboard and some grabbed
89. the steering wheel of civilization and screamed, watch this, and launched directly through the
90. guardrail. For centuries, humanity has wondered whether machines would someday become smarter
91. than us and the evidence increasingly suggests they already have they've certainly mastered our
92. favorite pastime obtaining authority immediately making an unbelievable mess of everything and
93. then acting shocked that the smoke is pouring from the building carrie harrison with you this is the
94. carrie harrison files c-a-r-y carrie harrison.com and go harrison.com you can later listen as a
95. podcast across every device. Simply Google the Carrie Harrison Files, C-A-R-Y, and make sure
96. you get our newsletter where you're going to get a transcript of this entire show and a bunch of
97. extra stuff we really cannot say on the radio anymore as much as I would love to. But the
98. overlords have us listed in Project 2025, and I have to do a lot of satire to say what I normally
99. used to say in an abnormal way, but it's way more fun. Let's just admit it. And that's at
100. kerryharrison.com or goharrison.com. And we also have a new Harrison text line at 310-737-TALK,
101. 310-737-TALK. And you could both text and leave messages and I will read them on the air as they
102. come across and they make sense. Here's one, by the way, from the text line, please stop,
103. You're killing me. I'm going to have to wear Trump-sponsored diapers.
104. Well, okay. He just rang the register, didn't he?
105. Let me see. Yeah, I think he did.
106. Okay. Star Trek, which we're all familiar with, or as who said it the other day, Star Trek.
107. Why not? Used to do a lot of episodes about this kind of scenario where the machines take over.
108. And of course, we're told the future is in excellent hands of these tech billionaires and their AI.
109. That's assuming, of course, those hands don't belong to a chatbot currently eating crayons, flushing the owner's manual down the toilet and assuring everyone that total societal collapse is actually a bold new feature.
110. it's also important to know that uh the ai well it always reflects the people who write its code
111. just like if you wrote an essay it's going to reflect you as a journalist we we do what we can
112. when we're actually doing a proper story we do what we can to remove ourselves from the story
113. but it's always going to come through the prism of your personal life experience and your interests.
114. You can't help it.
115. Like, why is that story good?
116. It's good to Tim, but not good to Margaret.
117. And they're both journalists.
118. Well, because Tim had a whole different series of life elements that spoke to him,
119. and he said this is important, people need to know about it.
120. Margaret never encountered any of that and thinks, who cares?
121. So AI is always going to reflect the people who write its code and we're never allowed, different from journalists, we're never allowed to know who those people are.
122. Why should they be so anonymous Why And you know we talked about this in the past about the philosophy of Palantir Peter Thiel and Doge Mr Musk and their mutual chum Jeffrey Epstein whose
123. stated goal was to crumble the planet and sell off the pieces for profit. And the part that has
124. their fingerprint on it took only four days to achieve. You know, we still have some power to
125. push our Congress to regulate something that can clearly take Congress's own jobs. It can out
126. fundraise them. It can out think them. It can create avatars of them tanning in Speedos on
127. the White House lawn. They have skin in the game for sure. And we'll go to the giant cage fighting
128. ring on the White House lawn in the next segment. Meanwhile, the spectacle of entertainers sprinting
129. away from the president's 250th anniversary celebration as though the stage had suddenly
130. been declared a toxic waste dump is one of those uniquely American comedies that would have made a
131. circus elephant stop juggling bowling balls and ask for clarification. Here sits a nation preparing
132. to mark two and a half centuries of existence, a feat longer than most celebrity marriages.
133. most streaming contracts, and most attention spans combined.
134. And some performers are reacting as if they've been invited to reenact dental surgery with a weed whacker.
135. The sensible move, at least from the standpoint of show business, would be the exact opposite.
136. And how many of us listening right now are in show business?
137. We know.
138. I mean, you rehearse, you audition, you do anything, anything to get one gig.
139. It's like one out of ten, maybe two out of ten if you're really lucky, but you'll do anything, anything.
140. Yet people are running at this, running, running from this.
141. They ought to be lining up around the block, elbowing one another with the enthusiasm of raccoons fighting over a dropped hot dog.
142. This is a national anniversary.
143. It's a giant audience.
144. Well, maybe.
145. It's television cameras.
146. It's publicity.
147. It's the sort of event publicists normally dream about while sleeping on mattresses stuffed with marketing reports and Instagram analytics.
148. Historically speaking, entertainers have always chased large public spectacles the way, I don't know, a bloodhound chases a ham sandwich.
149. Musicians have performed for kings, queens, emperors, dictators, presidents, governors, mayors, county commissioners,
150. and probably at least three men who falsely claimed to be the Duke of Wisconsin.
151. The entertainment business wasn't built by people avoiding audiences.
152. It was built by people finding audiences, enlarging audiences, and occasionally performing for audiences so drunk they'd applaud a fire hydrant.
153. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about, you who've done stand-up.
154. The modern celebrity class, however, it behaves like a flock of nervous flamingos attempting to navigate a parking garage.
155. every public appearance is treated as some kind of moral crossword puzzle requiring 17 consultants
156. four crisis managers, and a therapy llama
157. before signing a single note, singing a single note.
158. Committees are assembled, aren't they?
159. Statements are drafted.
160. Counterstatements are drafted.
161. Clarifications are issued to explain previous clarifications.
162. And by the end, nobody remembers the original question
163. except an intern locked in a conference room with six energy drinks
164. and a PowerPoint presentation titled Stakeholder Alignment Opportunities.
165. Yeah, and that lineup that fled reads like the entertainment roster of a mid-sized casino in Laughlin, Nevada from 2003.
166. And even they wouldn't touch it.
167. Millie Vanilli, Young MC, C&C Music Factory, Morris Day, the Commodores, Brett Michaels.
168. These are not exactly profiles in political courage.
169. These are people who have been performing at county fairs and corporate retreats for 20 years without complaint.
170. And they still ran.
171. The one guy who stayed? Vanilla Ice.
172. That's your 250th anniversary of the American Republic.
173. Vanilla Ice and a MAGA rally.
174. Our imperial kumquat now says he'd like to scrap the concerts entirely,
175. writing on True Social, quote,
176. we should have a giant Make America Great Again rally for 250
177. instead of having overpriced singers who nobody wants to hear,
178. whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain.
179. End quote.
180. Somebody invited them.
181. So here's what we should truly expect.
182. As the ghosts of Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin
183. clutch their pearls and pick up their banjos
184. for this next level Nuremberg rally we're told we're now going to get.
185. Let's set the scene, shall we?
186. i'm gonna have you imagine the music that goes underneath the scene opens with enough red hats
187. to convince a migrating flock of cardinals that they'd accidentally flown into a textile warehouse
188. flags ripple from every available surface flags on poles flags on trucks flags on shirts flags
189. attached to other flags.
190. Somewhere, an eagle is reportedly filing trademark paperwork.
191. The stage itself rises from the earth with the modest restraint of a Roman emperor's
192. fever dream.
193. Giant screens glow.
194. Music thunders.
195. Vendors sell commemorative merchandise with the urgency of medieval merchants unloading
196. miracle tonics before sunset and the atmosphere is part county fair part patriotic pageant part
197. professional wrestling entrance and part family reunion where every uncle has strong opinions
198. and at least three of them own grills large enough to qualify as industrial equipment
199. The crowd, can you see it?
200. Look, the crowd is stretching toward the horizon
201. in a sea of red, white, blue, and sunscreen.
202. Every attendee appears to have arrived
203. carrying enough lawn chairs coolers and bottled water to survive a minor siege Children are waving glow sticks Grandparents are waving flags
204. And somewhere, somewhere, a man wearing an eagle-patterned shirt,
205. star-spangled shorts, and a foam statue of Liberty Crown
206. explains constitutional theory with the confidence of a professor
207. who got his law degree from a truck stop placemat.
208. and okay i'm moving my head now at the center stands his excellency a giant cheeto framed by
209. enough patriotic imagery to make mount rushmore seem understated the giant screens magnify every
210. gesture until a point at the horizon where farmers briefly mistake them for weather systems
211. Every applause line lands like a bowling ball dropped into a room full of symbols.
212. Every cheer arrives with the force of a football stadium discovering free barbecue.
213. The pageantry itself has the subtlety of a monster truck driving through a fireworks factory.
214. Historical reenactors mingle with influencers.
215. Revolutionary War uniforms stand beside pickup trucks equipped with enough chrome to blind low-flying aircraft.
216. And the nation's 250-year history is compressed into a single visual collage that looks as though a history textbook, a 4th of July parade, a tailgate party, and a cable news marathon were accidentally loaded into the same industrial cement mixer.
217. the speakers invoke the founders with such frequency that one begins to imagine
218. george washington was actually an only fans porn star and hovering hovering over everything
219. is the distinctly american conviction that bigger is better louder is better and if something's
220. worth celebrating it's worth celebrating with enough lights music food speeches flags
221. and commemorative souvenirs to be visible from low Earth orbit
222. or one of Elon Musk's 10,000 satellites.
223. Oh, I want to go on a riff about that,
224. so I'm going to have a sip of coffee instead.
225. You know, as political theater,
226. it's a spectacle of abundance.
227. The Germans did it in World War II, and it worked.
228. But as satire, it resembles a patriotic amusement park built by people who looked at moderation, shrugged, and decided instead to install a larger sound system.
229. The entire event unfolds like America attempting to celebrate its birthday by turning every dial to maximum and then breaking off the knob.
230. And then there's the giant professional wrestling platform currently sitting on the White House lawn.
231. We're going to open up the phones and we're going to get to that next because coming up,
232. TikTok kids, social media, it's an app for those of you who don't use it.
233. For those of you who do, you know what I'm talking about.
234. TikTok kids are now smashing their own faces with hammers because they're chasing a jawline.
235. online A UFC cage is bolted to the White House lawn chasing ratings This is America in 2026 where hitting yourself in the face is either a beauty treatment or a governing philosophy
236. depending on your zip code. It's the Carrie Harrison files and lines are open.
237. Thank you.
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242. Well, it's still legal.
243. and it is the carrie harrison files carrie harrison.com we're going to open up the phones
244. at 818-985-kpfk 818-985-5735 or you can text me at 310-737-TALK you ever notice that every era
245. invents a fresh new way for people to humiliate themselves in public.
246. The Victorians measured skulls.
247. The 1980s snorted their retirement accounts.
248. The 2000s brought diet products from people that looked like they'd never eaten a carb
249. since the Clinton administration.
250. And now, now, now we've got people on TikTok beating themselves in the face with household
251. tools because some internet nitwit convinced them that a jawline is the master key to the entire
252. universe the first lady has had fantastic surgical sculpture and but that was over the course of
253. years and her beauty is mostly in the eyes of her beloved the commander in cheese our citrus caesar
254. but now now it's a real thing across the country and there's a name for it it's called look smacking
255. and i'm going to spell it for you l-o-o-k-s-m-a-x-x-i-n-g look smacking as in maxing your looks
256. the less groovy on social media simply call it bone smashing it's a dangerous tiktok trend
257. involving the voluntary repeated application of blunt force, hammers, bottles, tools, anything to the face
258. in an attempt to break or stress facial bones to create a more, let's say, angular or chiseled appearance.
259. And this trend misapplies something called Wolff's Law with two Fs, W-O-L-F-F, Wolff's Law,
260. which is a medical theory that bones adapt to moderate stress by assuming that when you break them, it leads to better shape.
261. So fixing an arm but it doesn necessarily lead to a better shaped arm or busting your nose and letting it heal that way Instead thousands of people are suffering permanent damage I mean you know we have a look in L
262. Now it has that look in Iowa, too.
263. There's broken bones, unevenly healed bone, nerve damage, severe scarring,
264. not to mention damage to blood vessels, even blindness.
265. So the doctrine is simple.
266. everything good, this is what they believe, and they look to the White House for directions on
267. how to become rich and famous. And they believe that everything good and that has ever happened
268. in human history has happened because someone had a nice face. Money? Jawline. Love? Jawline.
269. success jawline career jawline world peace probably jawline according to these people
270. you're not poor because of economics or bad decisions or bad luck family circumstances
271. or a thousand other factors no it's your cheekbones civilization itself has apparently
272. been reduced to a facial geometry problem. You could cure cancer, you could write 10 best-selling
273. books, you could build a company, you could raise a family, you could land a spacecraft on Mars, but
274. your face doesn't resemble a genetically engineered underwear model carved out of imported Italian
275. marble. So congratulations, you've supposedly lost at life. And that's the level of analysis
276. we're working with here. Millions of people sit there absorbing this crap every day.
277. Hundreds of millions of people are on social media. Thankfully, not 100% of them is doing it,
278. but enough for doing it. Like medieval peasants gathering around the village idiot
279. after he accidentally discovered Wi-Fi. Looks smacking and bones smashing reflect the crown
280. jewel of western civilization as projected by the dowager emperor of the unbuilt ballroom
281. think about this for thousands of years humanity used hammers to build houses
282. bridges cathedrals ships railroads and modern civilization tick tock looked at that history
283. and said yeah but what if we hit ourselves in the face instead that's the innovation that's
284. the breakthrough that's the genius somewhere every engineer who ever lived is rolling in his grave
285. so hard he's generating electricity the theory is basically maybe if i repeatedly beat the uh
286. beat the out of my own skull my skull will become a better skull it's not a medical theory to them
287. It's not biology. It's not science. Just a concussion wearing a fake mustache. The trend takes a real scientific concept. And by the way, everything I'm saying here is a metaphor for everything else we're doing to cope right now. Isn't it? Uh-huh.
288. And this trend takes a real scientific concept about how bones respond to stress and drags it through the mud until it resembles something scribbled on a men's room wall at three in the morning.
289. Meanwhile, Internet gurus respond with the confidence of a man explaining quantum physics after losing a fistfight with a lawnmower.
290. The confidence is incredible.
291. The evidence? Non-existent.
292. It's like watching a guy explain aviation while actively falling off a roof.
293. And then you've got endless discussions that last hours and days and weeks.
294. Entire communities staring at photographs of strangers and talking about facial angles as if they're decoding alien transmissions.
295. Observe the orbital projection.
296. Notice the mandibular structure.
297. Examine the maxillary development.
298. this this is not the dead sea scrolls this is not a military satellite image
299. meanwhile normal people are trying to figure out rent uh our groceries our insurance premiums our
300. medical bills our retirement savings our energy costs and whether artificial intelligence is about
301. eat half the labor market. But the look-smacking crowd is in the corner measuring cheekbones
302. like a crack addict weighing copper wire. It's spectacular. It's a beauty pageant pretending to
303. be sociology. It's a self-help movement pretending to be science, a cult pretending to be a spreadsheet.
304. And that's what makes it so fascinating, because beneath all the pseudoscientific jargon
305. and internet mythology is an unbelievably simple fantasy.
306. That success isn't complicated.
307. That discipline isn't necessary.
308. That skills don't matter.
309. That character doesn't matter.
310. That effort doesn't matter.
311. That maybe, just maybe, the answer to every problem in life
312. is hidden somewhere inside your face.
313. Boy, it's the oldest scam in human history.
314. and it's being sent from the top down
315. and people are desperate and hungry
316. and they're going to go for anything.
317. And the promise that reality can be defeated
318. with one weird trick?
319. Only now the weird trick involves
320. turning your own skull into a do-it-yourself construction site.
321. We've now got influencers
322. teaching amateur cranial demolition.
323. Please, leave the hammer in the toolbox.
324. your face is not a home renovation project
325. all right uh we'll go to the phones in just a second i see we've got a few people on hold
326. thank you thank you for being patient like dave in la and others thank you thank you so much
327. i'm just wrapping it up here because i'm on kind of a mental role here
328. we we also have to admire a civilization that finally stops lying about what it is
329. and this is where we pull the curtain here and we can thank the uh uh sultan of spectacle
330. the grand potentate of pay-per-view notice how i can't say his name project 2025
331. the one who now occupies the house of george washington and thomas jefferson even the house
332. of Richard Milhouse Nixon.
333. For 250 years, America wrapped itself in powdered wigs,
334. Latin slogans, marble columns, and speeches so stuffed with hot air
335. they could have floated a blimp across the Atlantic.
336. Every ceremony arrived dipped in solemnity.
337. Every public ritual came packaged like stale crackers from a museum gift shop.
338. But now? Now his imperial kumquat.
339. hasn't achieved what lesser civilizations only dreamed of.
340. And I talking about a likely permanent giant UFC cage on the White House lawn And for those of you who don know what a UFC cage is
341. it's the enclosed fighting area used in events run by the ultimate fighting championship,
342. or we would also call it professional wrestling, which, as we know, is true.
343. It consists of a padded metal frame surrounded by chain-link fencing.
344. And the fence is designed to keep the fighters inside the competition area while allowing visibility for officials and cameras and spectators.
345. Imagine if the Romans had this technology.
346. Instead, they only had a giant coliseum with live lions.
347. And that's coming, trust me.
348. This is not a metaphor. It's not a symbol.
349. It's not some performance art project funded by people who drink cucumber water and call it courage.
350. It's an actual cage, a steel fence, fists, blood, concussions, a glorious chain link monument to national honesty.
351. And we must try to appreciate the beauty.
352. At long last, this current America has stopped hiding the machinery and parked the engine block right on the front porch.
353. This is progress, we're told.
354. This is transparency.
355. This is our current government finally showing up to the party without makeup.
356. Yeah, the critics are horrified.
357. They say it cheapens the presidency.
358. Cheapens it?
359. That's like worrying a strip mall tattoo parlor might damage the reputation of a strip mall rub and tug massage parlor.
360. The beauty of this moment is that the, oh, let's come up with another one.
361. the citrus Caesar has finally abandoned the foreplay.
362. No more pretending legislation is a gathering of philosopher kings.
363. No more pretending cable news panels are intellectual exercises.
364. No more pretending the political class isn't already performing for ratings
365. like desperate contestants on a reality show called America's Got Lobbyists.
366. The lingerie is gone.
367. The lights are on, the camera's rolling, and standing there in all its majestic glory is the official governing philosophy of the modern republic.
368. Yo, bro, watch this.
369. And honestly, it's refreshing.
370. The event reportedly includes multiple fights, giant crowds, patriotic storytelling, celebrity entrances, and enough spectacle to make an ancient Roman emperor look up from feeding Christians to lions and fluff.
371. under his toga fighters may emerge from near the oval office itself
372. that's what we're told fighters may emerge from near the oval office itself 10 years ago
373. saying that out loud would have gotten you into psychiatric evaluation today it's event planning
374. and that's efficiency but the masterpiece the chef's kiss the crown jewel the
375. deep fried twinkie of governance is that the suggestion that the cage might stay
376. not temporarily not ceremonially possibly forever like the eiffel tower
377. imagine the school field trips what that building That where executive decisions are made And what that giant steel cage
378. Also where executive decisions are made.
379. Well, finally, truth in advertising.
380. No confusing symbolism.
381. No decorative nonsense.
382. Just a giant octagon squatting on federal property like a pit bull guarding a pawn shop.
383. Now, I know some of you are struggling.
384. You've spent years carrying around standards.
385. And that was your first mistake.
386. Standards are heavy.
387. Standards hurt your back.
388. Standards require effort.
389. So drop them.
390. Throw them into a ditch.
391. Bury them behind the septic tank.
392. Let them sink into the national sewer system where they belong.
393. because once your expectations fall low enough,
394. everything starts to look magnificent.
395. The pothole becomes infrastructure.
396. The strip mall becomes architecture.
397. The gas station roller dog becomes cuisine.
398. And a UFC cage on the White House lawn
399. becomes the crowning achievement of Western civilization.
400. Who's a good republic?
401. you are yes you are look at you big strong democracy good job pat pat pat
402. the whole thing i mean i'm just
403. bulbitating here the whole thing feels like a civic celebration
404. actually less like a civil civic celebration more like america's mango monarch hold on let
405. write that down that's a good one feels less like a civic celebration and more like america's mango
406. monarch finally taking government and entertainment by the hand and shoving them into the same motel
407. room they've been flirting for decades haven't they making eyes across the bar sending late
408. night texts. Now they've stopped pretending and they're just friends. The political class and the
409. entertainment class are wrapped around each other like two drunk pythons fighting over the same
410. space heater. Sponsors are drooling. Influencers are posing. Consultants are invoicing. The nation's
411. attention, the nation's, let's call them attention merchants, are rubbing their finorders together
412. They're so hard, they're generating enough friction to power three states.
413. Everybody wins.
414. Everybody.
415. Or at least everybody gets content.
416. And content, according to the Sultan of Spectacle,
417. appears to have replaced the Constitution
418. as the primary organizing principle of public life.
419. In school, you and I were taught the old republic dreamed of citizen philosophers.
420. But the new republic now dreams of title fights with executive parking.
421. The founders imagined sober debates about liberty.
422. The descendants now are debating walkout music and betting odds while scrolling memes in the toilet.
423. That's not decline.
424. We're told that's evolution.
425. The Rose Garden Caterpillar didn't die.
426. It turned into a monster truck.
427. And honestly, who among us doesn't enjoy a monster truck?
428. So stop pretending you're shocked.
429. The instant you heard UFC at the White House well a tiny part of your brain stood up and started cheering You know it I know it The commander in cheese knows it The whole country knows it This isn the collapse of the spectacle
430. It's the moment the spectacle finally became self-aware.
431. The mask is now off.
432. The curtain is down.
433. The circus bought the building.
434. The clowns got security clearances.
435. And the concession stand became national policy.
436. and the grand potentate of pay-per-view,
437. well, he's personally cutting the ribbon.
438. God bless America.
439. Now touch gloves, talk trash,
440. crack open a Pabst blue ribbon,
441. and let's see what fresh lunacy crawls out of the cage next.
442. Oh, my God.
443. Your Harrison hotlines are 818-985-KPFK,
444. 818-985-5735.
445. You can also shoot me a text at your Harrison text line at 310-737-TALK.
446. Two things happened this week.
447. I'm going to keep this to 60 seconds.
448. Then we're going to jump to the phones.
449. Two things happened this week that are actually the same thing.
450. Kids are beating themselves in the face with hammers because TikTok told them their jawline is the reason their life isn't working.
451. And the commander in cheese just installed a permanent UFC cage on the White House lawn, steel fence, chain link, fists, blood, concussions, called it governance.
452. Same scam, different zip code.
453. One weird trick, hit something hard enough and something beautiful comes out the other side.
454. For both.
455. a generation destroying their own faces chasing a fantasy sold by an influencer with a ring light
456. and zero conscience and a country watching its institutions get body slammed in a chain link cage
457. on the lawn where lincoln used to walk while sponsors drool influencers pose and consultants
458. invoice the look-smacking kid and the american voter are sitting in the exact same waiting room
459. both convinced that if they just absorb enough punishment,
460. something magnificent is going to crawl out the other side.
461. Let's go to Dave in L.A.
462. Dave, you're on the Carrie Harrison Files.
463. Welcome.
464. Hey, thanks.
465. First of all, I'd like to say I'm a first-time caller here
466. and actually a new listener to your show.
467. Can you hear me?
468. Yes, I do.
469. And I love everything you've said so far.
470. A-plus.
471. okay great um i'm a fan i'm a fan of your writing um in fact i was looking up your
472. substack just listening to you to speak today because i want to read a little bit that you
473. write um anyway um can we get a list of the nicknames for his imperial kumquat on your
474. Substack? Yes. Okay. So when I post this show, I will come up with a complete list of nicknames
475. and you are welcome to use any of them and add into them. In fact, let's open source it and get
476. the cleverness from everywhere and come up with a giant, hideous, long toilet paper roll of beautiful
477. monikers.
478. Okay, I have a two-part question on the topic today.
479. What do you think is the trajectory for this beauty-obsessed social media culture?
480. I guess that's the first part.
481. And the second part would be what advice do you give to a young person listening to you
482. today that finds herself or himself surrounded by peers who are perpetuating this sort of
483. beauty standards and culture.
484. All right.
485. Well, thank you, Dave.
486. I'm going to let you go and I'm going to answer it.
487. And I really appreciate having you aboard.
488. And thanks for jumping off the high dive for the first time into the endlessly cool waters
489. of possibility here.
490. Very much appreciate it.
491. That opens up a line at 818-985-KPFK, 818-985-5735.
492. You can also text me at 310-737-TALK to answer Dave's question.
493. If we were to look at real world versions of this, which would be much of our own L.A., where for years many of us have had plastic surgery.
494. And I'm not talking Botox, but I mean the grown up stuff that you might see at a restaurant in Beverly Hills where you can tell a mile away.
495. Boy, can you tell.
496. Or there's a billboard, I think, in West Hollywood on the corner of Robertson and Santa Monica Boulevard of somebody named Jazz.
497. And you go, when you see it, that this has not diminished or gone away in any way.
498. Somewhere, especially in the city, Miami also, maybe New York City to some degree, not in Europe yet.
499. But somewhere, somebody has convinced people that it makes a difference.
500. This is going to sound a little weird, but you know it's true.
501. There is a look in some parts of Beverly Hills.
502. People do prenups.
503. And if a woman, if a wife, some, gain more than five pounds, they lose the marriage.
504. and they lose whatever income and lifestyle that they have.
505. They also have to maintain a beauty standard,
506. which means constantly being under the knife.
507. So it becomes a branded look.
508. When you look at some people,
509. there's like hundreds of women that look like bad Barbara Edens.
510. They're all suddenly blonde.
511. They all have the same nose, the same lips, the same this, the same that.
512. It's a look. It's a brand.
513. It says, I am married to a very rich person and I am somebody.
514. Does that ever translate into actual paid work that matters and is meaningful?
515. Does it get you invited on the board of a charity that actually is doing, I don't know.
516. All I know is if your calling card is a little shocking, that's your calling card.
517. And people are visual creatures, like it or not.
518. And so the visual opportunity to be the peacock and be admired, probably less is more on that.
519. Less is more.
520. If you shock someone, well, they're now prejudiced as to what's behind the curtain.
521. So for people listening that are streaming, if you're in your teens, if you're in your 20s, your 30s, hearing this on a stream or as a podcast some days later,
522. don't succumb to this the only one that is benefiting is the influencer who has done it
523. and you are among a million people that have gone for the clickbait they're getting sponsored
524. they're getting cash and prizes for uh self-mutilation you get nothing you get nothing
525. if in fact you gotten laid like 48 times more than you ever would have with you know your cheeks sticking four feet out to the right I want to know but I doubt it I doubt it If you look like you been to war and never got corrective surgery
526. that's what people are going to think.
527. When they see radical facial reconstruction,
528. you always think car accident.
529. You don't think that somebody went in and did that on purpose.
530. And there's no lovely way to talk about this.
531. I'm just this is just my view answering Dave's question I'm not dodging it in any way in fact
532. I'm going like super deep but at the end of the day you're the first thing people see is your teeth
533. you know and then your features because we're inherently we want to kiss inherently we want
534. to connect inherently we want to replicate the species we want to spread our dna we want to
535. spread seed if we're male if we're female you're looking for the right fertilizer for your eggs
536. is this guy strong is he smart is he capable will he protect the nest and you know we make snap
537. decisions so anything that looks really out of order goes in second place first place can often
538. be the accountant. He may not be the hottest guy in the room, but he's nice. He listens when you
539. talk. He shows up on time. He comes home at night. He gets first place. So it's always been that way.
540. Content always surpasses the immediate visual. This is why they say beauty is skin deep. So
541. boy, this is worthy of a much deeper conversation. We'll definitely revisit this because
542. It's a metaphor for everything else that we're all doing to ourselves to cope, isn't it?
543. And the second part of your question, Dave, I can't remember.
544. Oh, somebody will remember and remind me, and I'll jump into it.
545. Let's go to James in Venice.
546. You're on the Cary Harrison Files.
547. Welcome.
548. Hey, Cary.
549. Wonderful show.
550. Did you say, did you use the term commander in cheese as in Velveeta?
551. Yes.
552. Okay, my contribution is Commander in Sleaze.
553. Okay.
554. Okay, two quick questions.
555. First off, I saw a photo of Hexsef with an American flag handkerchief.
556. Is it treasonous for him to blow his nose?
557. Ooh.
558. Ooh, I guess if he doesn't burn the handkerchief, he can get away with the other part.
559. He could be depositing mucal substance into the handkerchief in order to stiffen it so that it's more erect in his pocket, which would be an act of patriotism.
560. Wouldn't you agree?
561. I would not agree.
562. My final question, is it true?
563. I heard a rumor that the Reverend Pastor Culpepper was the commander in Sleaze's personal spiritual guide.
564. Yes, he is, in fact, the spiritual guide for the GOP, God's own party.
565. Thanks, Kerry. Bye-bye.
566. All right, my friend. Have a great day.
567. That opens up a line at 818-985-KPFK, 818-985-5735.
568. You can also text me at 310 Manny who thank you Manny is a wonderful stepping in for Renee this week points out it against the flag code to use the American flag as clothing or anything else
569. Okay.
570. Thank you for that.
571. And if you blow your nose on it, that's probably considered double plus naughty, I would think.
572. We're talking right now about all the different things that have happened this week.
573. They're all so bizarre that you can't make this stuff up.
574. You could make this stuff up, but why would you bother?
575. This is that Mark Twain moment where reality is stranger than fiction.
576. So we're taking your calls, getting your reflections on this at 818-985-KPFK, 818-985-5735.
577. You can also shoot me a text or leave a voice message at our Harrison hotline at 310-737-TALK.
578. Do as Dave said, get the newsletter because we are really restricted as to what we can say now on the radio,
579. given the FCC is a mostly political organ.
580. and so I've had to channel my inner L. Frank Baum and Jonathan Swift.
581. It's way more fun, by the way, or H.L. Mencken even.
582. I mean, these great guys that could get away with it
583. by tangentially saying what it is.
584. And actually, I'm having way more fun.
585. I have to tell you, for years, it's been gravitas and just straight,
586. you know but this is fun i mean i'm having fun you're having fun and we're actually saying it
587. we're saying it and in some ways we have to laugh so we don't cry it's the old russian canard isn't
588. it they laugh so they don't cry because that's all you can do so uh pretty anyway i'm just
589. thanking you for going along with me on this. I've been beating my brain for months and months
590. trying to figure out, getting smacked in the fan. You can't say this, you can't say that.
591. And trust me, we're a brave station. We have an interim general manager who is awesome,
592. who never nips at the heels. He is so smart and savvy and cool. And we're entrusted to not
593. screw the pooch on this one. So you have to just be creative. So that's the good news.
594. Anyway, my train of thought just derailed. I was just getting feeling, feeling actually
595. grateful for all of it in an, in its own odd way. I do worry that Gen Z and other ones who don't
596. have the benefit of some of the education that a lot of a lot of our listeners so people that are
597. maybe 50 plus come from a different generation different schooling and there was an era in
598. california where education was free free free yeah like how did silicon valley happen in a vacuum
599. no free education they got to ascend to the top of the top of the top through
600. public funding and that was the dream at the time of various different governors that this state could be the number one state in the union and provide the greatest inventions the greatest thinking the greatest output in the whole world that
601. we would cultivate an endless pantheon of geniuses.
602. And it worked.
603. And then different governments took over, took away free education.
604. and of course the planned goal is to idiotize the public so they cannot have critical thinking
605. they cannot get themselves out of a paper bag and they will take a hammer to their own jaw
606. because they look at the first lady and they are told that her cheekbones and her jawline are the
607. only things that matter in the world and it's just not true uh for those of you who are on social
608. media and TikTok, Instagram, whatever, you'll see people that are like 23 that filter the
609. hell out of themselves.
610. Filtering does not mean putting yourself through cheesecloth, although cheesecloth was certainly
611. an ancient technique that you shot people with movie cameras through some kind of filter
612. like that to soften them and make them look younger.
613. but filtering with digital cameras now is simply that you just kind of blur people just enough
614. it takes the wrinkles out and it softens things that you don't want looking too hard
615. if you've ever done zoom you can actually soften your image or improve it or whatever they call it
616. this is the the thing is when you're 21 or 22 or 25 or even 35 you don't really have wrinkles you
617. don't really have anything. You're like at the peak of your beauty. So artificially changing it
618. comes with this one big problem. If you're doing it to meet someone, what happens when you actually
619. meet them? Uh-oh. Uh-oh. They split. And then it gets on social media that you're a fraud.
620. you're never going to date again.
621. Those are the stakes here.
622. Same with the hammer on the face.
623. So let's talk to each other.
624. Let's work stuff out.
625. And I appreciate everybody.
626. I appreciate this,
627. everything that we do together.
628. Carrie Harrison with you.
629. This is the Carrie Harrison Files.
630. Don't forget to get our newsletter
631. at CarrieHarrison.com
632. where you're going to get a transcript
633. of this entire broadcast
634. plus an entire names list
635. and other stuff I just thought of in the back of my brain
636. that you're going to love, that I love,
637. and we'll share that together.
638. I look forward to seeing you next week.
639. What's going on, Los Angeles?
640. My name is Kat Brooks.
641. I'm a boots-on-the-ground organizer, artist, abolitionist,
642. and the host of Law & Disorder.
643. Born at KPFA in the Bay three years ago,
644. L&D seeks to be a partner in movement
645. by making space and place for the freedom fighters
646. locked out of mainstream media,
647. artists using their work as active resistance
648. and connecting with our brothers and sisters on the other side of the walls.
649. You can tune in for that fire Monday through Thursdays at 8 a.m. on 90.7 FM
650. or online at kpfk.org.
651. Chimaringa.
652. Join us at the Liberated Zone of Freedom Now every Saturday from 11 to noon
653. for a Pan-African perspective on world affairs and a fly music mix.
654. And as always, we stand ready for the revolution.
655. Hi, this is